Marine Luchtvaart Dienst (MLD) - Naval Aviation Service

As
in most other countries, the Dutch Navy also wanted its own air force to protect the coast, harbours and ships. Unlike their KLu
brethren, the MLD also send many planes to the Netherlands East Indies for similar tasks.

MLD 1919-1939,
Land-based Aircraft

Perhaps due to desire to compete with the LVA, naval aviation of the
yearly years also
operated some land based planes that did not show any apparent sea patrol
talents. To add confusion, these used the same green colour as their
land counterparts,
but initially did without the blue lower surfaces.

Hollandgrijs, licht was a
substitute of Marinegrijs, although possibly
it was a bit greener: Hollandgrijs mixed with white.

Noordzeegrijs was yet
another substitute for Marinegrijs, although possibly
this shade was slightly darker.

Another interpretation of Donkergrijs is
that the shade was closer to
FS 36231
(H-140 / X-131 / X-403).

On
delivery, Friedrichshafen FF-33L had German pre-printed fabric, or was
clear doped.

Fokker C.V had a peculiar blend of gloss and matt
finishes on the wings. Bottom surface of a top wing and and upper
surface of the bottom wing were matt; the opposite sides of both
wings were finished in gloss lacquer.

In 1936, for test purposes, one Fokker T.IV and one T.IVa were given a pattern of grey
camouflage over their original one-colour finish - the original colour
becoming part of the camouflage.

In
September 1937, for test purpose during a fleet exercise, three
Dornier Wals
were given a camouflage scheme of Lichtblauwgrijs and Donkerblauwgrijs.

From 1938, the Fokker C.XIw carried aboard patrolling cruisers got an irregular pattern of
zigzags, stripes and bands in Marinegrijs and Donkergrijs
across their aluminium
finish.

Anti-glare
panel on Ryan was probably black and only covered the fuselage section behind the
engine hood.

Floats and underwater
parts of hulls on flying boats were finished as follows:

C.V:
Noordzeegrijs

C.VII, VIIIw,
C.XIw, T.IVa: Marinegrijs

B.II, Do-24K,
T.VIIIw, C.XIVw, Ryan: under water parts aluminum.

Fairey
III-D: white

B.I (possibly), T.IV after maintenance : donkergrijs.

Wal: black
hull bottom.

WA, WB:
black (as were all struts on these machines), some WA Marinegrijs. Many
aircraft had tarred
sides and bottom.

MLD 1940-1945

Sharing the complicated fate of their KLu
colleagues after German occupation of the low countries, MLD pilots
found themselves serving under British command. Starting with Coastal
Command in their old Fokkers (maybe even meeting the same type
operated by the Germans), they ended up flying KNIL-ordered
bombers for 2 TAF. Others moved to the Pacific, operating their
MLD Catalinas and later Liberators, both types carrying Dutch markings.
Even the Fleet Air Arm had a Dutch squadron, operating from Merchant
Aircraft Carriers. Many pilots stationed with British squadrons
stayed there throughout the war, like the FAA flyers
operating Corsairs, Seafires and Hellcats.

Douglas DB-7B, possibly also some North American B-25J
Mitchell on loan from the British.

Lockheed Hudson: a) up to 1940, b) from end 1940.

Lockheed Hudson from summer 1941.

Avro Anson.

Most North American B-25 Mitchells.

Many North American B-25 Mitchells starting with 1944.

Some North American B-25 Mitchells after maintenance.

Consolidated PBY Catalina delivered in 1943, Fairey Barracuda.

Consolidated PBY Catalina 1944, Consolidated B-24 Liberator.

Fairey Swordfish 1943.

Fairey Swordfish 1944 - a) early, b) later.

Additional colour notes

Donkerblauwgrijs was sometimes also referred to as Blauwgrijs (Blue Grey) or
mud. This scheme looks
similar to the one introduced by the USN half a year later - Non Specular
Light / Blue Grey.

Exact shade of Olijfgroen in the above table is unknown.

US-manufactured aircraft such as Douglas DB-7B and Lockheed Hudsons were
finished at the factory in US equivalents of Dark Green and
Dark Earth
which generally only roughly resembled their British counterparts.
Medium
Green, Dark Olive Drab or Light Earth could be used on these
planes.

Dutch
Swordfishes served aboard the Dutch Merchant Aircraft Carriers Gadilla and Macoma
and British MAC Acavus. These aircraft had gloss finish.

Lockheed
Hudsons and Avro Ansons could get temporary washable black finish on lower
surfaces for night operations. An example of this practice are
the Hudsons that participated in the 3rd "1000 bomber raid" on
June 25/26, 1942.

In 1941, units in the East Indies acquired a number of civilian Tiger Moths. At
that time, about half of them were red, most of the rest blue,
exact shades unknown.

Seaplane hulls usually had a grey or black coating
below the waterline. Many had darkened lower rear fuselages.

Dornier Do-24K were gradually repainted in
the above scheme.

Delivery of Vought Kingfisher and most DB-7 (in the event, six of them reached NEI) was rerouted to Australia.
They were handed over to the RAAF, arriving with Dutch markings (orange
triangles).

There was at least one Consolidated PBY Black Cat
serving with the Dutch.

In March 1942, all remaining Dornier Wals and Fokkers T.IVa, C.VIIw and C.XIw
in the NEI
were destroyed.

MLD 1945 to
Today, NATO (STANAGs, Standardization Agreements)

After the war the Dutch continued
their aircraft carrier experience with three (technically two) aircraft
carriers and war missions flying British-supplied Hawker Sea Furies. Eventually the
capability shifted to anti-submarine warfare and patrolling. Due
to progressive budget cuts, only some ship-born helicopters remain
to this day.

Apart from some late war dark
blue models, most planes used the two-tone NATO scheme, with
either a high or low demarcation line between colours.

Many
immediate post-war deliveries carried WW2 camouflages (see
KLu 1942-1945). These got a gloss
coat and/or were changed to the schemes discussed in this section.

PBY
Catalinas delivered in 1946-47 initially had the same
Donkerblauwgrijs - Melkwit scheme as the very first MLD
PBYs, see
MLD 1940-1945.

KLu aircraft started their marine service in their original colours.
These include Taylorcraft Auster and some Harvards (see KLu 1942-1945);
Piper Cub, Douglas DC-3 Dakota, North American Harvard, Gloster Meteor T, S-11, De Havilland Tiger Moth (see KLu
1953-1960s). Meteor T and camouflaged Dakotas kept these schemes
throughout their service life.

At least one
early Harvard had its wartime trainer scheme changed to Extra Dark Sea
Grey overall.

US Grumman Tracker
and Lockheed Neptune for Europe were delivered with a fuzzy border between
colours. All other schemes had hard borders.

The white on
the mid Neptune was matt on sides and on engines. The Dark Sea Grey
on later Neptune was semi-gloss at first. Later Neptune operating
from the Antillen (West Indies) could have white upper fuselage
surfaces.

New
Guinea Neptunes (P2V-7B) were delivered with white upper fuselage. On
operational aircraft this was changed to a locally blended mix, slightly
darker than Seaplane Grey (maybe only because it was less
weathered). An interesting fact is that while on the ground, the
temperature inside the parked aircraft rose 8 degrees higher due to the
darker upper surface!

Anti glare
panels were usually repainted to matt black during maintenance.

Beech 200 Super King Air
belongs to the MLS (Marine Luchtvaartschool, Naval Aviation School),
stationed with a civilian school and having its own scheme.

MLD
2004+, Current Changes

New colour scheme gradually introduced up to the moment of
the Orion's career end in Dutch service in January 2005.

Militaire Luchtvaart van het Koninklijk
Nederlands-Indisch Leger (ML-KNIL) - Military
Aviation of the Royal Netherlands-Indies Army

The Netherlands' East Indies being so huge a territory as it was, the Dutch decided to give it its own
army. The air force (LA-KNIL, later renamed to ML-KNIL) officially always remained a part of that
army.

Being a long way from Holland, LA-KNIL had more liberty in choosing
aircraft types by their own requirements. However, they had shown a bad habit of asking Dutch manufacturers to
design a specific plane for a specific purpose, only to drop the whole
thing and order abroad once the prototypes were flying.

In the beginning there were problems finding right
protective aircraft finishes, as the climate was very hot and very
humid, making many early wood-and-fabric aircraft literally fall apart as their glue dissolved...
The paint scheme that was finally settled on was a combination of green and heat-reflecting silver.

1919-1935, LA-KNIL

The acronym LA-KNIL stands for Luchtvaartafdeling van het Koninklijk
Nederlands-Indisch Leger - Aviation Department of the Royal
Netherlands-Indies Army. This was the final name of the organization
established in 1919 as PVA-KNIL - Proefvliegafdeling
van het Koninklijk Nederlands-Indisch Leger (Test Flight Department
of the Royal Netherlands-Indies Army), and then from July 22 1918 VA-KNIL - Vliegafdeling
van het Koninklijk Nederlands-Indisch Leger (Flight Department of the
Royal Netherlands-Indies Army). The department was finally renamed
to LA-KNIL on August 10, 1921.

Avro
504K and De Havilland DH-9 were rebuild with local resources withh
plywood covering replacing the fabric. These converted aircraft were
usually painted in clear varnish overall, with the following known
exceptions:

some 504K's (like
A-42 and A-43) had upper surfaces and fuselage painted in NIVO Green. A-42 had white bands
on upper top wing, and two white field on upper fuselage.

DH-9 no. H104 had a
white nose and white struts.

DH-9 no. H-113 had a (insignia) blue field on
the top fuselage behind the second cockpit.

DH-9 no. H-106 was
painted in clear varnish overall except for the upper wing, which was
painted Khaki. Later
it got the same scheme as the other DH-9s.

DH-9 no. H-120F was a
photo-reconnaissance machine with the fuselage painted in aluminium
lacquer except for the upper
part, which
was NIVO Green. THis machine was nicknamed "photo-herring".

For camouflage
tests, one Wasp-engined DH-9 was camouflaged with large fields
with sharp borders and corners. The colours were Pastel (pastel)
and Herfstachtig (autumn-like), possibly something
like Cream (37855,
H-41, X-610) and Dark or Leather Brown (30059
/
30051,
H-170, X-22, RAL-8027).

ML-KNIL 1936-1950,
US Colours

Seeing in Europe that their
earlier decision to defend the NEI by patrolling air cruisers
(Martins) was not really feasible, a mad rush begun by the late
1930s to
build up a modern, all-round air force with adequate reserves in
time before the expected
Japanese onslaught. Many Dutch pilots joined the KNIL
from Europe and a huge program was started to train plenty of
flyers, including a Reserve Corps. Significant of this
development, LA-KNIL was renamed to ML-KNIL
on November 20,
1940.

Unfortunately, the Japanese came just
a few months too early. Like Britain's Bloody April in the Great War,
pilots were eventually thrown into action straight from flight
school. Although outnumbered and out-experienced, they achieved remarkable successes
(all the way up to Hanoi). There were also severe losses, most
notably during the ill-planned and ill-coordinated support of the defence of
Singapore (Wavell'sunrealistic Fortress Utopia), where Martin bombers were sent out
singularly and in pairs
as reconnaissance planes.

After
the fall of the NEI, most
of the air staff staff joined the
Royal Australian Air Force, where they served as independent
units:

PEP (Personnel &
Equipment Pool), a reserve squadron that also did some operational
work, operting all aircraft types used by the others

After the war these squadrons formed
the core of the new ML-KNIL. At least nos. 18, 120 Squadrons and probably PEP still
carried
Dutch insignia on their aircraft.

Captured Dutch airmen who became
Japanese prisoners of war in the East Indies did not experience the joy
of liberation the way that their European colleagues did. Many starved Dutchmen were murdered when they finally could
leave their
POW camps. Those who survived and returned to active duty were quickly sent to
serve in
another war in the NEI, dropping food, bombs or paratroopers.

The post-war ML-KNIL did not last for long:
the air force became superfluous and was
abolished on July 1, 1950

Sadly, KNIL's
heroes and the whole NEI episode is largely ignored in today's
Holland and does not receive the recognition it deserves.

Operating over jungle, the only
suitable camouflage was of course green, until camouflage was
no longer needed when the skies were controlled by the Allies.

Of the pre-1943 natural finish
types only the
Ryan had a black anti-glare panel behind the engine hood. From 1945, both black and Olive
Drab were used for
anti-glare panels. Some C-40s also had the interior surfaces of the engine
nacelles painted in the same colour.

Exact name and shade of Chocolade bruin remains unknown, eye witnesses
reported that the fuselage of FK-51 was 'chocolate colored'.

In the
harsh climate of the NEI, Dark Olive Drab
41 faded to a variety of shades: brown, brown-yellow, light green
or even grey.

In 1940 or 1941 one Martin
was experimentally camouflaged in grey, blue and other light colours.

All non-camouflaged aircraft, including trainers and civilian types were
camouflaged during 1940-1941, Hawks and Martins first.

Jongblad
camouflage on Curtiss Hawk 75, Interceptor, Falcon, Brewster Buffalo, L-18, WH-2,
Douglas DC-3 and Fokker F.XII was applied in large fields. When applied
on US-based colour schemes such as that for Douglas A-20A, North
American B-25 and Curtiss P-40, this colour was applied in "splotches"
along the leading and trailing edges of wings and tail.

On the Hawk 75 and
Martins the camouflage was wrapped around the leading
edge on the underside of the wing.

The emergency-supplied
P-40E and Hurricanes received Dutch national markings, but it's unknown
if they got Dutch numerals. One P-40E possibly had a white "3" on
the fuselage and tail. The P-40Es arrived late, but two of them may
have seen combat action on the last day (March 8). There have
been rumours that up to 12 extra Hurricane Mk.II and 24 extra
Hurricane Mk.I have been supplied to and possibly operated by the Dutch.

Also, quoted camouflage colours for the Hawker Hurricane are somewhat
speculative. The Dutch were very good
in camouflaging their airfields and understood the importance of
camouflaged planes. As there was time enough to give the Hurricanes
Dutch national markings,
I believe it is possible that at least the Dark Earth patches of the
camouflage were repainted with Jongblad, which was readily
available.

Ordered planes still
undelivered in December 1941 - some Lockheeds, many
Buffalos and Falcons, and all B-25Cs arrived too late. All did carry Dutch
national insignia and most went to Australia, following the remainder
of ML-KNIL, to
serve in the RAAF or USAAF. An exception were the Bermudas which didn't arrive at all
but were retained in the US to serve with the US Marines - who had to cope with Dutch language
instructions on all the placards in the cockpit! However, these
aircraft never carried Dutch colours or markings.

There are a few preserved pictures
of British Brewster Buffalos in Dutch markings. Therefore a conclusion
can be drawn that there were some Dutch-operated Buffalos carrying
RAF-style camouflage (see
RAF colors).
To me however, judging from the sort, shape and position of the
markings and probable damages, it seems more likely that these were
captured planes, collected and given suitable Dutch markings by
Japanese for a propaganda photo shoot of an 'overrun airfield line
up'.

Douglas A-20A which served a short
time alongside some B-25C's with 18 squadron during readiness
preparations most probably didn't carry Dutch insignia.

At least one B-25C (N5-145) was painted black overall. The three RAPWI B-25Cs were painted
white overall with green crosses.

Ex-Japanese
transports (like Ki-54c, 57, Mavis)) were initially painted white (RAPWI & green crosses) or
left in their original finish. In
1946 all were stripped to natural metal finish and given Dutch markings.

From 1945 on,
camouflaged planes were stripped to natural finish during regular
overhauls.
This process took some years to complete. A frequent occurrence during
the transition period was the use of natural-metal replacement parts on faded, camouflaged
airframes. With the introduction of
the roundel insignia (replacing the flag from early 1948), camouflaged
planes were stripped of paint around the national insignia but could be left
camouflaged on other parts of the airframe.

The only post-war
aircraft type
in the inventory that never lost its camouflage was the L-4J. On delivery they could
have Medium Green splotches. Some were given white wing tips.

After delivery, some
Harvards were stripped to natural metal finish and given bomb racks (like B-417,
B-418).

In 1949 C-47s of 20
Squadron got a blue band above the windows with yellow lettering.

Others: Royal Netherlands Military Flying School (Jackson Mississippi),
West Indies, 1940-1945

With the collapse in the Netherlands' East Indies and considering the
ridiculously high cost of
training in Britain, it was quickly decided to set up an independent
flying school in the United States. This school, established in
Jackson, Mississippi, operated throughout the war.

The West Indies had an
improvised air force, which operated for a while alongside its US
counterpart to protect West Indies' oil fields against U-boats and
to intercept German ships fleeing to Central America. Even the
venerable Fokkers managed to achieve success.

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